Mythology - Greek - Oreads - Echo

Echo was an Oread, or Mountain Nymph, on Mt. Cithaeron and was known for her love of chatter and gossip. She was cursed by Hera to repeat only the last few words that another person spoke after she distracted the goddess from finding Zeus with another nymph. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, after being cursed, Echo falls in love with Narcissus, but fades away to nothing after he rejects her, leaving only her voice to forever repeat the words of others. However, an alternative story by Longus states that Echo was torn to pieces after the god Pan became jealous of her musical ability and that Gaia hid those pieces of her body in the earth (herself) throughout the world so they could never be found, but that her voice still sings out in the wild places.